"All of a sudden, snow just enters my airway ... I couldn't breathe. I had snow all the way down my throat."

His friends accidentally triggered another avalanche on their way down.

Now, Watt was completely buried and his friends could not see him. He says they took a guess and just started digging.

"It went from pitch black and it went a shade lighter with every scoop of snow he peeled off. Next thing you know I've got a leather glove sweeping snow off my face," Watt said. "I look him in the eyes and he doesn't hesitate. [He] shoves two fingers down my throat and rips all the snow out of my airway."

Tree well safety

People often don't see trees as hazards on the mountain, but ski patrol professionals say that needs to change.

"Just because you think you're an intermediate skier, and you're off just in the trees on kind of a mellow run where no avalanches exist, that doesn't mean deep snow and tree well hazards don't exist in those places," said Gwyn Howat, vice president of operations at Mount Baker Ski Area and the co-author of deepsnowsafety.org.

Howat says staying in the line of sight with friends at all times is critical. The time it takes to find a friend again in the trees can be the difference between life and death.

It's so imperative that when people go into treed areas, and deep snowed areas, that you actually remain in sight with your partner," she said. "People can suffocate in a tree well in deep snow immersion as quickly as someone can drown."

Watt says people should always bring their avalanche gear if they plan to go into the backcountry. One out of three people in his group on Saturday brought that gear, which included a shovel.